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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN 

AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS 

IN THE UNITED STATES 



REPORT PREPARED FOR 

THE COMMISSION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

TO THE BRAZIL CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 




For Distribution at the Brazil Centennial Exposition 
1922-1923 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN 

AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS 

IN THE UNITED STATES 



Supplementing Exhibit 

of the 

U STATES RELATIONS SERVICE 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

at the 

BRAZIL CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

1922-1923 



By 
A. C. TRUE 

Director 
States Relations Serrice 




UBmCf OF. (»ONQKFSS 
OOOUMCNTH DtMvitUi 



S5S3 



INDEX. 



Historical outline 7 

Federal agencies promoting education 9 

Agencies for research in agriculture and home economics 9 

Department of Agriculture 9 

Office of Experiment Stations 11 

Agricultural experiment stations 12 

Higher education in agriculture 17 

Secondary education in agriculture 23 

Elementary^ education in agriculture 26 

Extension work in agriculture and home economics 27 

Elementary education in home economics 41 

Secondary education in home economics 42 

Higher education in home economics 43 

Research in home economics 43 







Fig. 2. — Henry L. Ellsworth, founder of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. 




Fig. 3. — Justin S. Morrill, author of the act establishing the land grant colleges. 

5 




Fig. 4.— William H. Hatch, author of the act establishing the State agricultural 
experiment stations. 



EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE AND 
HOME ECONOMICS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



^n the United States education is chiefly maintained and controlled 
by the States, counties, municipalities, and townships. The Federal 
Government has charge of education only in the District of Columbia, 
Indian reservations, Alaska, and some of the insular possessions. It 
has, however, made grants of land and money to the States for the 
partial support of colleges and secondary schools in which agriculture, 
home economics, and other vocational subjects are taught and for agri- 
cultural experiment stations. Research in agriculture and home eco- 
nomics is also carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 

Efforts to disseminate information regarding improved methods of 
agriculture and to apply scientific principles to agricultural practices 
were begun in the United States in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century through the formation of agricultural societies. During the 
first half of the nineteenth century agriculture was taught in a number 
of schools. Attempts were also made to create colleges in which the 
sciences and their applications to agriculture and other industries would 
be taught. In 1857 the first State agricultural college was opened to 
students at Lansing, Mich. This movement was greatly broadened by 
the passage in 1862 of the land-grant act of Congress under which large 
tracts of land were given to the States, from the sale of which permanent 
funds were established for the endowment of colleges "where the lead- 
ing object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical sub- 
jects, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning 
as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, * * * in order 
to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes 
in the several pursuits and professions in life." 

Under this act and supplementary legislation colleges in which agri- 
culture was taught were established in all the States. In 20 States 
these institutions have developed into State universities in which there 
are colleges of agriculture. In 1890 Congress passed the so-called 
Morrill Act, granting Federal funds to the States for these colleges. This 
was supplemented in 1907 by the Nelson amendment, granting addi- 
tional funds. 

Under these two acts each State received $50,000 annually. In 17 
Southern States this money is divided between colleges fof the white 

7 



8 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

and colored races. The States have Hberally supported the land-grant 
institutions, and at present the Federal funds constitute only a small 
part of their current revenues. 

In 1839 the Federal Government, through the Patent Office, began 
the collection and distribution of seeds of economic plants. This was 
soon supplemented by studies and publications on agricultural subjects. 
In 1862 a Department of Agriculture was established, and in 1889 this 
became a department of Cabinet rank, having at its head a Secretary of 
Agriculture. Scientific research related to agriculture has been greatly 
developed in this department, particularly since the beginning of the 
present century, and it is now the greatest organization for this purpose 
in the world. Research in the field of home economics has also been 
carried on in this department since 1894. 

The first agricultural experiment station was established in Con- 
necticut in 1875. Other States very soon followed this example. 

In 1887 Congress passed the Hatch Act for the maintenance in all 
the States of agricultural experiment stations, which, with few excep- 
tions, are departments of the agricultural colleges. This was supple- 
mented in 1906 by the Adams Act. Under these acts each State receives 
$30,000 annually. The stations also receive State and other funds 
greatly in excess of the Federal funds. 

In 19 14 Congress passed the Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension 
Act, which provides for extension work in agriculture and home eco- 
nomics to be carried on by the State agricultural colleges in coopera- 
tion with the United States Department of Agriculture. The act grants 
to the United States considerable amounts of Federal funds which are 
to be mainly offset by funds from sources within the States. 

Meanwhile the teaching of agriculture had spread from the colleges 
to many secondary schools and a considerable number of elementary 
schools. 

During the second half of the nineteenth century the teaching of 
cooking and sewing was introduced into many elementary schools. 
Broader courses in these and other subjects in the field of home eco- 
nomics were given in the secondary schools. The teaching of home 
economics was, however, chiefly confined to city schools but has recently 
spread to a considerable number of rural schools. To supply teachers 
of home economics, a number of State and private colleges and normal 
schools undertook to give courses in which the teaching of household 
practices was combined with instruction in the natural sciences and 
their application to household arts and family life. 

The instruction in agriculture and home economics in schools and 
colleges is a part of a broader movement for education relating definitely 
to the various vocations pursued in modern communities. Technical and 
vocational schools and courses have greatly multiplied in recent years. 



AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 9 




Fig. s. — One of the laboratories of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
13923—22 2 



lO AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

To further promote vocational education throughout the United 
States, Congress passed in 191 7 the Smith-Hughes Vocational Educa- 
tion Act, under which Federal funds, offset by State funds, are provided 
for secondary instruction in agriculture, home economics, trades, and. 
other industries and for the training of teachers of these subjects. 

FEDEIRAI, AGENCIES PROMOTING EDUCATION. 

The Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior promotes 
education in a broad way throughout the United States by the collec- 
tion and dissemination of statistical and other information regarding 
the organization and work of universities, colleges, and schools in this 
and other countries. It has the administration of the Federal acts 
granting funds to the State land-grant colleges and has charge of the 
public schools in Alaska. Its publications contain considerable infor- 
mation regarding education in agriculture and home economics. 

The Federal Board for Vocational Education administers the Federal 
vocational education act (Smith-Hughes Act) and studies and reports 
on the problems of vocational education in agriculture, home economics, 
trades, and other industries. 

The United States Department of Agriculture, besides administering 
the Smith-Lever Extension Act and cooperating with the State agri- 
cultural colleges in carrying on extension work in agriculture and home 
economics, has a division in the States Relations Service which prepares 
subject matter and illustrative material in form for the immediate uses 
of teachers in schools where agriculture is taught. It cooperates with 
the Bureau of Education, Federal Board for Vocational Education, 
State departments of education, and agricultural colleges in studying 
the problems of agricultural education and the preparation of agricul- 
tural courses for secondary and elementary schools. 

AGENCIES FOR RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS. 

The principal agencies for research in agriculture and home economics 
are the United States Department of Agriculture and the State agri- 
cultural experiment stations. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

The Department of Agriculture, under the act of Congress of 1862 
establishing it, has authority "to acquire and to diffuse among the 
people of the United States useful information on subjects connected 
with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that 
word." Subsequent laws have enlarged its functions by establishing 
within it regulatory and service agencies, some of which have duties 
outside the agricultural field. In 1889 the department was raised to 
the first rank, having at its head a member of the President's Cabinet. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. II 

Since that time its growth has been great and rapid. At present its 
general officers are the Secretary of Agriculture, Assistant Secretary 
(in charge of extension work, publications, and exhibits), and Director 
of Scientific Work. Its employees number 20,000, of whom 4,800 are in 
Washington. About 2,000 scientists are engaged in its research work. 
In 1921-22 the appropriations for its regular work and publications 
aggregated $40,000,000, of which 1 10,000,000 is used for research. 

Its research work is done through the following bureaus: Weather 
Bureau, Bureau of Animal Industry, Bureau of Plant Industry, Forest 
Service, Bureau of Soils, Bureau of Chemistry, Bureau of Entomology, 
Bureau of Biological Survey, Bureau of Public Roads (and agricultural 
engineering), Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and States Relations 
Service (including Office of Experiment Stations, Division of Insular 
Stations, and Office of Home Economics). There are also a Division of 
Publications and an Office of Exhibits. Besides a large number of 
scientific and technical reports and bulletins and popular publications, 
especially the series of farmers' bulletins, the department publishes the 
following periodicals: Journal of Agricultural Research, Experiment 
Station Record, and Weather Review. 

The research work is carried on in laboratories and experimental 
fields in Washington and vicinity and at field stations in the States, 
Alaska, and the insular possessions. There are also many special inves- 
tigations in the United States and other countries and much research 
work in cooperation with the State agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations. 

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

The Office of Experiment Stations in the States Relations Service 
administers the Federal acts (Hatch and Adams Acts) granting funds 
to the State agricultural experiment stations, makes an annual inspection 
of their work and expenditures under the Federal acts, has advisory 
relations with them regarding lines of work, equipment and personnel, 
prepares reports to Congress on their work and expenditures, collects 
and disseminates information regarding similar institutions throughout 
the world. 

The Experiment Station Record, prepared in this office, contains sum- 
maries of the publications of the Department of Agriculture and the 
agricultural experiment stations and similar institutions in the United 
States and elsewhere and of other scientific literature pertaining to 
agriculture wherever published, together with editorials and notes on 
developments in agricultural research and the progress of institutions for 
agricultural education and research throughout the world. The Record 
is published in two annual volumes of nine numbers each, with detailed 
author and subject index. The forty-seventh volume is now in progress. 



12 agricuIvTure; and home economics in united states. 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Agricultural experiment stations have been established under Federal 
and State laws in 48 States. There are 50 of these stations, 47 of which 
are departments of agricultural colleges. In Ohio the station is a separate 
institution. In New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey there are sepa- 
rate stations, in addition to those connected with the colleges. In a 
number of the larger States substations are maintained under State 
laws. These are mainly engaged in the more practical experiments 
with crops and live stock to meet special local conditions. 

In 192 1 the total income of the stations was about $7,500,000, of which 
$1,440,000 were Federal funds granted under the Hatch and Adams Acts 
($30,000 to each State), about $3,700,000 were State funds, $1,000,000 
were proceeds of sales of farm products, and about $1,360,000 came from 
miscellaneous sources. 

The general management of the stations is given by the State legisla- 
tures to boards of trustees, which generally are also the boards managing 
the agricultural colleges. Usually the members of these boards are ap- 
pointed by the governors of the States, but in some States they are elected 
by the people. The trustees determine the general policy of the stations, 
pass in a general way on its equipment, work, and expenditures, and 
appoint its principal officers. 

Governors, State superintendents of education, or commissioners of 
agriculture are in some States ex officio members of the station board. 

The direct management of the station is committed to a director, who 
reports to the president or dean of the college. 

The staff consists of scientists and technically trained persons repre- 
senting different branches of agricultural science and practice. There 
are also farm superintendents, clerks, laborers, and other helpers. 

About 1,900 persons are employed in the work of the station, of whom 
more than 1,500 are scientists and technically trained persons. About 
500 of these give part of their time to teaching or extension work. 

The stations are partly housed in buildings used also by the teaching 
and extension departments of the colleges and also use portions of the 
college farms, which often comprise hundreds of acres. But they also 
have many special buildings, experimental fields, farm machinery, ani- 
mals, and elaborate equipment devoted entirely to research. 

In the Hatch Act, which grants $15,000 to each State, the work of the 
stations is defined as follows : 

It shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct original re 
searches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases 
to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical 
composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative ad- 
vantages of rotative cropping as pursued under the varying series of crops; the capacity 
of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical 
composition of manures, natural and artificial, with experiments designed to test the 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 1 3 

comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and 
forage plants; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds of food for domes- 
tic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter 
and cheese; and such other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricul- 
tural industry of the United States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having 
due regard to the var}'ing conditions and needs of the respective States and Territories. 

Under the Adams Act, which grants $15,000 to each State, the work 
must be confined to original research. The funds provided under this 
act are thejefore used for the more fundamental scientific work of the 
stations. For a considerable period the work of the stations was chiefly 
on problems relating to plant and animal production. In recent years 
increasing attention has been given to studies connected with cost of pro- 
duction, marketing, standardization of products, and other economic 
problems. 

In addition to their experimental work, many of the stations have 
carried on analytical and other work connected with State control of 
fertilizers, food, feeding stuffs, seeds, diseases of plants and animals, etc. 
The present tendency is to lodge such work more fully in the State de- 
partments of agriculture. 

The headquarters of the stations are as a rule at the agricultural col- 
leges, where the more important work in laboratories, greenhouses, barns, 
and fields is carried on. There are, however, many special investigations 
and experiments in different localities, including a considerable number of 
experiments in cooperation with farmers. 

The results of the station work are disseminated through annual re- 
ports and popular and scientific bulletins, which are transmitted in the 
mails free of charge for postage. In 192 1 the stations issued 400 publi- 
cations and their mailing lists aggregated i ,000,000 addresses. Summa- 
ries of these publications and other information regarding the stations are 
also widely circulated through the agricultural and other journals. 
Station officers. State and county extension agents, and cooperating 
farmers give information and demonstrations to large numbers of farm- 
ing people at meetings, through correspondence, telephone messages, 
visits to farms, and in other ways. 

HIGHER EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE. 

The institutions for higher education in agriculture are of two types: 
(i) Colleges of agriculture in universities, and (2) separate colleges in 
which instruction in agriculture is combined with instruction in mechanic 
arts, home economics, and a variety of other subjects. The courses in 
agriculture in these two types of institutions do not vary materially. 
Their number and range depend chiefly on the income, equipment, and 
size of the agricultural faculty. College courses in agriculture are given 
chiefly in the public land-grant colleges and universities, but a number of 
private institutions also offer such courses. 



14 AGRICUIyTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES 




AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. I 5 




1 6 AGRICUI^TURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES 




AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 1 7 




Fig. 9.— Soil studies at the New York Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station. 

L3923— 22 3 



1 8 AGRICULTURE AND HOME) ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 




AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 19 




20 AGRICUIvTURB AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

The colleges are under control of boards of trustees, which as a rule are 
the same as for the experiment stations connected with them. The chief 
executive officer is a president, under whom is very often a dean in imme- 
diate charge of the agricultural work. The number of professors and 
assistant teachers of agriculture varies. greatly, but the larger and more 
wealthy institutions now have agricultural faculties of 20 or more 
teachers. These institutions are in general equipped with a number of 
substantial buildings and large farms used for agricultural instruction, 
herds of different kinds of animals, special scientific 'apparatus, farm 
machinery, agricultural libraries, etc., in addition to the equipment used 
for instruction in natural sciences, languages, mathematics, and other 
subjects usually included in college courses. 

There are at present 48 State institutions in which college instruction 
is given to white students and 17 colleges for colored students in the 
Southern States. Similar institutions are maintained in Porto Rico, 
Hawaii, and the Philippines. 

The data available at this time indicate that about $10,000,000 was 
used for agricultural instruction in the land-grant colleges in 1921. 

Under the head of agriculture, instruction is given in plant production 
(including agronomy [field crops], horticulture, and forestry), animal 
production, agricultural technology (e. g., dairying, sugar making), rural 
engineering, rural economics, and sociology. There is also instruction 
regarding plant and animal disease, injurious insects, and predatory 
animals. In the agricultural courses special emphasis is laid on those 
subjects most important to the agriculture of the region in which the 
college is located. Thus dairy farming is emphasized in the Northeastern 
States, cotton farming in some Southern States, the growing of wheat, 
maize, and other cereals in the North-Central States, dry farming and 
irrigation in the Western States, fruit growing in the Pacific Coast States 
and Florida. 

Combined with the instruction in agriculture, courses are given in 
natural sciences, mathematics, languages, history, political and social 
science, etc., in order that the graduate in agriculture may have a liberal 
as well as a practical education. 

The amount of time devoted to agricultural subjects during the regular 
four-year course varies in different colleges, but averages about 40 per 
cent. In some colleges emphasis is laid on the fundamental sciences 
during the first two years, but the present tendency is to give a consider- 
able amount of agricultural work in those years. There is much elective 
work during the third and fourth years, in which the student is expected 
to give special attention to some subject of particular interest to him and 
to combine with this a group of studies to make a well-rounded course. 
This group system of electives is now much more favored than a system 
of free electives, which often results in too narrow specialization or too 
superficial work on too many subjects. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 21 

The regular college courses in agriculture are based on four years of 
study in a secondary (high) school and seven or eight years in an ele- 
mentary school. The entrance requirements on this basis include in- 
struction in English, mathematics, history, and elementary science, 
usually combined with Latin, or a modern language, or agriculture. 
The giving of entrance credit for agriculture is a comparatively new 
thing and thus far only a few students have satisfied the requirements 
in this subject. 

In recent years the agricultural colleges have undertaken the pro- 
fessional training of teachers of agriculture and for this purpose have 
established departments of agricultural education. Courses in educa- 
tional psychology and the principles and methods of teaching, with 
special reference to the teaching of agriculture, are given, usually in the 
third and fourth year of the college course. Teachers in service are 
also given opportunities for professional advancement by means of 
short courses, particularly in connection with the summer term of 
school. 

Since the passage of the Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Act in 
191 7 the agricultural colleges have been designated to carry out the 
provisions of that act relating to the training of teachers of agriculture. 
This has greatly strengthened their departments of agricultural educa- 
tion. 

The four-year courses in agriculture ordinarily lead to the degree of 
bachelor of science (in agriculture). Graduate courses are now given in 
a number of the colleges leading to the degree of master of science or 
doctor of philosophy. Persons preparing to become investigators, 
teachers, or agricultural experts are recommended to take graduate 
courses. 

Many of the colleges offer short courses of a more practical kind for 
students engaged in farming or elementary teaching. These vary in 
length from a few weeks to two years and are usually held in the winter 
or summer. 

SECONDARY EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE. 

Secondary education in agriculture is given in two types of schools: 
(i) Special agricultural schools and (2) departments of ordinary secondary 
(high) schools. 

The special agricultural schools are organized as branches of the agri- 
cultural colleges or as independent schools in counties or larger districts. 
Most of these institutions are public schools, but there are also a con- 
siderable number of private schools in which agriculture is taught. The 
special schools usually have their own buildings, farms, live stock, farm 
machinery, and laboratory apparatus. The fact that they have rela- 
tively large equipment for agricultural instruction and more thoroughly 
vocational courses makes these schools particularly attractive to more 



2 2 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 









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AGRICUI^TURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 23 




24 AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

The instruction in agriculture must be of less than college grade and 
be designed to meet the needs of persons over 14 years of age who have 
entered or are preparing to enter upon farm work. Each student in 
agriculture must pursue supervised practice in agriculture on a farm for 
at least six months per year. Under this act it has been possible to 
establish more definite standards for secondary instruction in agri- 
culture and to enforce a larger requirement of practical work definitely 
connected with the instruction in the school. The "home projects" of 
the students usually consist of the growing of some crop on at least an 
acre of land or the feeding and care of one or more animals for a period 
of at least six months. The student must keep a record of his farm 
operations and their cost and make a written report on his project at 
its completion. The teacher visits the farm to observe and comment 
on the work. Care is also taken to connect the school instruction with 
the practical work on the farm. A considerable number of the special 
agricultural schools have received these funds and they have also gone 
to a large number of public high schools. In 192 1, 50 special schools 
and 1,700 ordinary high schools received the Smith-Hughes funds. 

EI.EMENTARY EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE. 

Twenty-two States have special laws dealing with the teaching of 
agriculture in the public elementary schools, at least in rural com- 
munities. It has, however, been difficult to secure satisfactory teaching 
of this subject in these schools generally. Most of the teachers in the 
rural elementary schools are young women without training in agri- 
culture. If they have attempted to teach agriculture they have simply 
used a textbook in a perfunctory way. A few teachers in the one-room 
schools have, however, been able to interest the pupils and to give them 
some worth-while and practical instruction in this subject. More has 
been accomplished in the larger schools formed by the consolidation of 
a number of small school districts within- a township. In these "con- 
solidated" schools a teacher trained in agriculture is often employed. 

As a rule the formal teaching of agriculture has been confined to the 
seventh and eighth grades, in which the pupils are usually over 12 years 
old. In the lower grades there is often some nature study, which in- 
volves observation of common plants, domestic animals, birds, insects, 
etc., and thus is introductory to instruction in agriculture. 

A considerable number of textbooks in elementary agriculture have 
been published and widely circulated. Many of the States have pre- 
pared outline courses in agriculture for the elementary schools. In 
this work the State departments of education, agricultural colleges, and 
United States Department of Agriculture have often cooperated. Charts, 
lantern slides, and other illustrative material have also been provided 
by public and private agencies. The extension agents of the agri- 
cultural colleges and United States Department of Agriculture have also 



AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 25 

mature students who have not been able or incHned to prepare for 
college, but desire instruction which will make them better farmers. 
Since most of their students reside at considerable distance from the 
schools, the expense of attendance is materially increased as compared 
with that of the student who attends a near-by high school. Such 
schools, therefore, will not be numerous and will not take the place of the 
best high schools easily accessible to farm children who have completed 
courses in the elementary schools and who because of their age and 
other conditions should reside at home. 

The courses of instruction in agriculture in the special schools vary 
considerably in duration and subject matter according to the agricultural 
conditions in different regions and the size of the faculty and equip- 
ment of the school. In general, courses in agriculture covering from 
two to four years are combined with courses in English, mathematics, 
elementary science, history, civics, and manual training to make a four- 
year secondary course. Systematic practice in farm operations is 
included in the agricultural course. 

A department of agricultural instruction has been organized in about 
2,000 public high schools in the 48 States and in a small number of private 
schools. In each school there is usually a single teacher of agriculture. 
In most of these schools the agricultural course covers only one or two 
years, but in an increasing number of schools an effort is being made to 
continue it through the four years covered by the regular high-school 
program. The instruction varies from that which is largely practical 
and truly vocational to that which consists chiefly of textbook and 
laboratory work. Some of the schools have small tracts of land and a 
few animals, but for the most part the practical work is conducted 
on the farms where the students reside with their parents through what 
are known as home projects. 

Since 191 7 secondary agricultural instruction has been increasingly 
influenced by the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Vocational Educational 
Act. Under this act in 19 17, $548,000 of Federal funds was allotted 
to the States on the basis of their rural population for the salaries of 
teachers and supervisors of agricultural instruction. This amount 
has been annually increased by $250,000 and this will continue until 
1926, after which the annual appropriation will be $3,000,000. To 
obtain these Federal funds the States must accept the provisions of the 
act, after which they receive as much of their share of this fund as they 
offset with State funds. All the States have accepted this act and many 
of them have thus far contributed more than enough to entitle them to 
their full quotas of Federal funds. 

The supervision of these funds is intrusted to State boards of vocational 
education, by whom they are allotted to such schools teaching agriculture 
as are approved by the State board and meet the general requirements 
of the act as administered by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. 



26 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 




AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 27 

aided the teachers to make the instruction more practical. In many 
schools the children have been enrolled in the clubs organized by the 
extension agents and thus have grown crops or animals under expert 
supervision, this work serving as a "home project" and being linked 
with the school instruction. 

Many State normal schools have included agriculture in their teacher- 
training courses and the agricultural colleges have also aided in this 
work. A few normal schools have undertaken experiments with new 
forms of curricula and methods of instruction in an effort to suggest 
ways by which elementary rural schools may be made better agencies 
for fitting children to live in the open country and engage successfully 
in farming. 

EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS. 

From their beginning the agricultural colleges and the United States 
Department of Agriculture have sent out members of their staffs to 
make addresses at farmers' meetings. They have also distributed 
publications. The popular publications of the department, particularly 
the Yearbook and the farmers' bulletins, and the bulletins of the experi- 
ment stations have been freely distributed in very large numbers. An 
enormous correspondence on agricultural subjects has also been con- 
ducted by the agricultural institutions. 

About 50 years ago the agricultural colleges and State boards or 
departments of agriculture began to hold annual series of meetings in 
different parts of the State, at which addresses were delivered by experts 
and successful farmers, followed by questions and discussion from 
the audience. These meetings, lasting from one to three days, have 
been called farmers' institutes. They proved so popular that State 
legislatures made special appropriations for their maintenance. Regular 
staffs of lecturers were employed and special publications were issued. 
The number of meetings grew up to several thousand annually. The 
total attendance mounted until it aggregated several million. Special 
institutes for women and young people were added. Music and other 
recreational features were introduced and in recent years lantern slides 
and moving pictures have been increasingly used. 

About 20 years ago, when farmers in the Southern States became 
alarmed at the spread of the cotton-boll weevil, the Department of 
Agriculture, under the leadership of Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, undertook 
to establish demonstrations of improved methods of agriculture on farms 
in that region. The farmers carried on these demonstrations under the 
supervision of department agents. Meetings were held at the demon- 
stration fields. This plan proved so successful that after a time special 
agents were located in single counties to supervise the demonstrations 
and further assist the farmers. To benefit farm boys and girls clubs 



28 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

were formed, whose members undertook some special work at home, 
such as raising an acre of corn or a pig or canning vegetables or fruit. 
Then it appeared that the farm women should have special assist- 
ance in their gardening and poultry raising and in conserving and 
utilizing their products and improving their home conditions. Women 
agents were therefore placed in counties where funds were available 
for their support. 

This system of extension work spread rapidly in the Southern States 
until several hundred county men and women agents were regularly 
employed, with Federal, State, and district agents to supervise them. 
At first this movement was independent of the agricultural colleges, 
but gradually they were drawn into cooperation with it. Later a similar 
system spread into the Northern and Western States, where the colleges 
took an active part in it. 

Maintained at first wholly with Federal funds, it afterwards received 
for several years much of its financial support from large private con- 
cerns, as well as from States and counties. 

The general extension movement among the farmers culminated in 
19 14 through the passage by Congress of the Smith-Lever Extension 
Act, which made possible a combination of the demonstration work 
with useful features of the earlier extension work, so as to form a broad 
system of practical education for the men, women, and children on the 
farm, supplementary to the training given in schools and colleges. 
Under this act the agricultural colleges and the Department of Agri- 
culture are made responsible for cooperatively carrying on the extension 
system, which thus becomes a permanent part of the public system of 
education throughout the 48 States. 

The act provides that the States accepting its provisions shall designate 
colleges receiving the benefits of the land-grant act of 1862 and the 
Morrill Act of 1890 to receive and use the Federal and State extension 
funds. The work must be done in cooperation with the Department of 
Agriculture and in accordance with plans mutually agreed upon by the 
Secretary of Agriculture and the several agricultural colleges. 

Ten thousand dollars of Federal funds are annually appropriated to 
each State, together with additional funds allotted to the States on the 
basis of rural population. The additional funds to be thus allotted began 
with $600,000 in 1 9 15 and thereafter are increased by $500,000 for seven 
years, at the end of which they will be $4,100,000 annually. These addi- 
tional funds must be offset by equal amounts which may be appro- 
priated by the State legislature "or provided by State, county, college, 
local authority, or individual contributions within the State." 

In the year beginning July i, 1921, the extension work in the States is 
maintained with $18,500,000, divided as follows: 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 29 




30 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 




AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME) ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 3 1 

Federal Government: 

States Relations Service $1, 050, 754 

Other bureaus of Department of Agriculture 100, 205 

Federal Smith-Lever funds: 

Regular 4, 080, 000 

Supplementary i, 500, 000 

$6, 730, 959 

From sources within the State: 

To offset Federal Smith-Lever funds — 

Regular 3, 600, 000 

Supplementary i, 500, 000 

Additional funds from vStates, counties, and other sources. ... 6, 666, 401 

■ 11,766,401 

Total ' 18,497,360 

Since the passage of the Smith-Lever Act Congress has made annual 
appropriations supplementary to the regular Smith-Lever funds and also 
providing the States Relations Service of the Department of Agriculture 
with funds to be used in cooperation with the colleges and counties in 
extension work. The States and counties have more than met their 
obligations under the Federal legislation. 

In the relations of the Federal Government with the cooperative exten- 
sion service the Secretary of Agriculture is represented by the Assistant 
Secretary as far as general policies and administration are concerned. 
The director of the States Relations Service is responsible for the general 
management of the department's affairs relating to extension work. 
This business is principally conducted through an Office of Extension 
Work in the States Relations Service. The chief of that office and his 
assistants confer with the State extension officers and make agreements 
with them regarding projects and plans of work, financial budgets, and 
methods of conducting the work in the States and counties. They also 
make arrangements for the cooperation of specialists from the depart- 
ment bureaus in the work in the States. The work and expenditures 
under the Smith-Lever and department funds are annually inspected 
in all the States, and when the expenditures are approved the States are 
certified to the Treasury Department to receive the next installment of 
the Smith-Lever fund. The funds appropriated to States Relations 
Service for farmers' cooperative demonstration work are used for the 
maintenance of the Office of Extension Work and for the payment of 
part of the salary of extension workers in the States and counties. 

In the States each college receiving the Smith- Lever fund carries on its 
extension work through an extension division, at the head of which is a 
director, who acts as the joint representative of the Department of Agri- 
culture and the college and administers all the extension work in the 
State. Under him are State leaders of the county work and a force of 
extension specialists in the various branches of agriculture and home 



32 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

economics who assist the county workers and supplement their work 
throughout the State. They also prepare publications and illustrative 
material. 

In 2,100 counties out of about 2,650 agricultural counties there is an 
agricultural agent, in 800 counties a home demonstration agent, and in 
200 counties a special agent for boys' and girls' club work. These agents 
supervise and conduct demonstrations on the farms and in the homes, 
hold meetings, and give advice and assistance by personal visits, corre- 
spondence, telephone messages, articles in the local press, etc. 

To support and aid the county workers, groups of farm men and women 
have been organized. In about 1,500 counties this organization is called 
a farm bureau. It has a president, secretary, and treasurer, and commit- 
tees whose members represent different communities in the county. 
About a million persons are members of farm bureaus. While originally 
formed to cooperate in extension work, the farm bureaus have enlarged 
the scope of their work to include the formation of marketing organiza- 
tions, publishing of papers, and matters relating to business, legislation, 
and the social concerns of farming communities. The extension workers 
are not responsible for the conduct of these activities, though they may 
give advice and information regarding them. The farm bureaus often 
use part funds as contributions to the support of the county extension 
workers. For their larger enterprises State and American federations of 
farm bureaus have been formed. 

In about 600 counties the place of the farm bureau is filled by a county 
council of agriculture or some other organization of farmers. Through- 
out the country the extension workers also have helpful relations with 
many kinds of farm organizations. 

In making the annual plans for extension work it is" now a common 
practice for community committees of farming people to meet together 
with the extension agents and work out a community program. These 
community programs may then be combined into a county program. 
Certain features of the county programs may then be taken to form a 
State program, and this may have certain elements of regional or national 
significance. 

The character of the cooperative extension work is defined in the Smith- 
Lever Act as follows : 

That cooperative agricultural extension work shall consist of the giving of instruc- 
tion and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not 
attending or resident in said colleges in the several communities, and imparting 
to such persons information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publica- 
tions, and otherwise. 

In subject matter this work covers the whole range of problems re- 
lating to agricultural production and economics, as well as the home and 
community life of farming people. In recent years the agricultural 
agents have given much attention to standardization and marketing 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 2>3 




34 AGRICUIvTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 





■ 

earn, imi„mim!imi^MltttSKf<f:fVI 




SSSm 


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■'Hu 1 


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u 


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H 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 35 




36 AGRICUIvTURH AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 




AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED vSTATES. 37 




38 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 




Fig. 22. — Girls' club meeting. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 39 

of farm products and the formation of cooperative associations. The 
home demonstration agents have aided the farm women in increasing 
and more efficiently utiHzing their farm products and incomes, bettering 
sanitary conditions, preventing diseases, improving household arrange- 
ments and equipment, using labor-saving devices, and increasing social 
welfare. 

The following summary illustrates some features of the extension work 
in 1921 : 

In the organized counties work is carried on in cooperation with clubs, 
committees, and other groups of farming people in 25,000 communities. 

During the year 125,000 community and other meetings were held 
with an attendance of 6,000,000. 

The county agricultural agents, assisted by the State leaders and ex- 
tension specialists, visited 650,000 farms, on about 250,000 of which 
they carried on demonstrations with a large variety of crops and animals. 
In connection with these demonstrations, 75,000 field meetings were 
held with an attendance of 1,000,000. 

The number of farmers who modified their crop or live-stock produc- 
tion as the results of extension work was 2,215,000, or an average of 
about 1,100 per county. 

As an example of what is accomplished through demonstration work, 
the agents reported that 1,600,000 acres were planted with selected seed 
corn and that 63,000 farmers tested 240,000 bushels of seed, which were 
used in planting 1,600,000 acres. Due to the influence of the agents, 
160,000 farmers selected nearly a million bushels of seed corn for use next 
year. The agents were also influential in getting 41,000 farmers to treat 
2,600,000 bushels of seed wheat for smut, which were used for planting 
2,800,000 acres, and, similarly, 83,000 farmers to treat 1,250,000 bushels 
of seed oats used in planting 750,000 acres. The agents also conducted 
nearly 30,000 demonstrations in the introduction or improvement of the 
practice in connection with legumes, over 350,000 farmers adopting the 
practices demonstrated. 

The State and county home demonstration agents carried on 250,000 
demonstrations, and as the result of these demonstrations 650,000 
women made changes in their home practices. Home demonstration 
work included many matters relating to food, diet, clothing, household 
equipment, and management. Special emphasis was laid on matters 
relating to the health of the farming people and the care and nourish- 
ment of children in the farm home. 

Five hundred thousand boys and girls were enrolled in the clubs and 
undertook projects on crop and live-stock production. Nearly 300,000 
of these completed their projects and made written reports. 

The work with swine illustrated how the club work influences the pres- 
ent and future practice of swine production. The 50,000 boys enrolled 



40 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

in the pig club work introduced thousands of pure-bred animals into 
their communities and demonstrated improved methods of feeding. 
About 186,000 new farmers grow swine for the first time each year. It 
appears, therefore, that at least one-fourth of the future swine growers 
received some training through the club work. Twenty-four thousand, 
or nearly 15 per cent, of the future swine growers completed the require- 
ments of the club leaders. 

The girls and women did a large amount of work in poultry raising, 
gardening, and food conservation. About 260,000 gardens were estab- 
lished or improved. The canning work included 9,500,000 containers 
of fruits and vegetables and 715,000 pounds of poultry and meat. In 
addition, 2,^600,000 pounds of lard, 3,900,000 pounds of sausage, and 
9,450,000 pounds of cured meat were conserved. 

The larger part of the extension work in recent years has related to 
standardizing and marketing farm products and the formation of cooper a 
tive associations. In 192 1 the associations which extension agents helped 
to organize did business amounting to $77,000,000, with a saving to 
farmers of $9,325,000. The total business of similar organizations thus 
far organized amounted last year to $310,000,000, with a saving of 
$30,000,000. 

White agents did much work which benefited negro farmers and there 
were also about 240 negro agents, men and women. Over 14,000 negro 
farmers conducted demonstrations and thus increased their yields of 
crops on an average of 50 per cent. Fifteen thousand negro boys en- 
rolled in crop and live-stock clubs raised products valued at $230,000 
The negro women and girls canned 225,000 containers of fruits and vege- 
tables and cured or canned over 500,000 pounds of meat. Much work 
was done in improving negro homes and making their .surroundings sani- 
tary. There is very encouraging cooperation of the races in this work. 

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

Elementary instruction in subjects within the field of home economics 
is given in a large number of public and private schools throughout the 
United States. The work is best organized in the cities, but in the "con- 
solidated" rural schools and in a considerable number of the smaller 
rural schools useful instruction is given. Cities, counties, and State de- 
partments of education often employ special supervising officers to direct 
and promote home economics instruction in the elementary and higher 
schools. 

In 1 92 1 the Bureau of Education reported that in two-thirds of all the 
larger school systems "home economics is required of all girls in the 
seventh and eighth grades, " and in a considerable number of cities it is 
also required in the fifth and sixth grades. In the smaller cities and in 
the rural communities this instruction usually covers one or two years 
at the end of the elementary courses. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 4 1 




42 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

Cooking and sewing, with practice work, form the usual basis of the 
course. To this is added more or less instruction regarding food, diet, 
clothing, house furnishing, marketing, home sanitation, home manage- 
ment, and a variety of household arts.^ " Establishment of health habits 
and preparation for home helpfulness are the dominant motives now 
determining the courses of study and the methods of instruction." Much 
attention has recently been given to matters of personal hygiene, feeding 
of children, school lunches, and recording of weight and growth as 
related to diet. 

In many rural schools there is cooperation with the extension agents 
in the canning of fruits and vegetables and in other work of the girls' 
clubs. This often results in increased interest among the children and 
their parents in the instruction in home economics given in the local 
school. 

SECONDARY EDUCATION IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

Courses in home economics are now given in more than 8,000 public 
high schools and normal schools and in a considerable number of private 
secondary schools. The time covered by these courses ranges from one 
to four years. 

The four- year course may include instruction in cookery, dietetics, 
house planning and furnishing, home management, household budgets 
and accounts. In some of the larger schools vocational courses in mil- 
linery, dressmaking, and other subjects are given. Practice work is 
done in the school, and in many cases there are also home projects for 
which school credits are given. 

Combined with home economics there will usually be instruction in 
chemistry, physics, or general science, with applications to household 
matters, physiology and hygiene, nursing, English language and litera- 
ture, history, and mathematics. There may also be electives in ancient 
or modern languages, elementary social and economic science, and other 
subjects. 

Interest in courses which have direct relation to the vocation of home 
making and to such occupations as dressmaking, millinery, management 
of restaurants and boarding houses, nursing, etc., has been greatly stimu- 
lated by the work being done under the Smith-Hughes Vocational Edu- 
cation Act, since part of the money made available to the States under 
that act may be spent for instruction in home economics. 

For women and girls who are at work and can not take the regular 
school courses, provision is being made to an increasing extent through 
part-time and evening courses in food, clothing, millinery, dressmaking, 
home making, nursing, child care, etc. 

In 192 1 there were 73 institutions preparing teachers of home eco- 
nomics, of which 13 were preparing teachers for negro schools. Every 

• Much time is also devoted to economics, such as budget making, personal accounts, and to personal 
and home financial matters. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 43 

State is now offering a course for the preparing of vocational teachers 
of home economics in day schools, and in addition some of the States 
have local centers for the training of teachers of part-time and evening 
schools. In 30 States there are one or more State supervisors of voca- 
tional education in home economics under the Smith-Hughes Act. 

HIGHER EDUCATION IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

Over 300 colleges and universities maintain courses in home economics, 
emploving for this purpose over i ,000 teachers. These institutions include 
most of the State universities and land-grant colleges. State colleges for 
women, and private colleges and universities. Home-economics depart- 
ments of college grade are also maintained by a considerable number 
of normal schools and by junior colleges and other institutions offering 
two years of college work. 

The home-economics courses vary from those of limited scope, given as 
a part of a broad education for women, to elaborate and highly specialized 
courses leading directly to various vocations, including teaching or 
research. In a general way the first two years of the regular college 
course include instruction on food and diet, clothing and household 
equipment and management, combined with sciences such as physics, 
chemistry, bacteriology and physiology, English language and literature, 
and at least one foreign language as required subjects. There may also 
be a small number of electives in these years. In the third and fourth 
years the student is expected to pursue certain major subjects and elec- 
tives, varying in amount and number with the size of the faculty and the 
general character of the instruction. 

Among the special courses offered in different institutions are those 
on nutrition, dietitian service, child feeding, care and welfare; nursing; 
household entomology; house furnishing and decoration; household art; 
textiles; business of housekeeping; household administration; institu- 
tional management; and teacher-training. ^ 

The four-year courses in home economics lead to the bachelor's degree. 
A number of institutions also give courses leading to advanced degrees- 

The home-economics departments are equipped with laboratories, 
kitchens, dining rooms, laundries, bedrooms, parlors, classrooms, and 
special apparatus. A number of institutions also have practice houses, 
in which the students carry on all the operations of a household, and at 
the same time do the marketing, keep accounts, and perform other busi- 
ness connected with household management. 

RESEARCH IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

Experiments and other research in the field of home economics have 
been conducted by a number of universities and colleges in different 
parts of the United States. The largest organization for this purpose 



44 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 

it). 



Fig. 24.— Interior view of llie Experimental Kitchen, Office of Home Economics, United States 
Department of Agriculture. 



AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 45 

is the Office of Home Economics in the United States Department of 
Agriculture. 

This office was established in the States Relations Service in 191 5 and 
was a continuation and enlargement of the nutrition investigations of 
the Office of Experiment Stations. About 1890 Dr. W. O. Atwater, 
professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University and director of the Storrs 
Experiment Station in Connecticut, began investigations in human nutri- 
tion. Beginning with 1894 this work was granted Federal funds and 
later on was transferred to Washington as a branch of the Department 
of Agriculture. 

The earlier work consisted of dietary studies and digestion and metab- 
olism experiments. Professors Atwater and Rosa devised an elaborate 
apparatus called a respiration calorimeter, in which human subjects 
could live for a number of days, while the energy value of their diet was 
being determined in relation to the energy expended in various kinds of 
work performed in the calorimeter. Improved apparatus of this kind 
is now used in the laboratory at Washington, where its scope has been 
extended to include the study (in cooperation with other bureaus) of 
fundamental problems of agriculture as well as those pertaining more 
directly to the home and its management. Dietary studies of persons 
engaged in various occupations have been carried on in different parts 
of the country, partly in cooperation with universities and colleges. 
Numerous digestion and metabolism experiments with great varieties of 
food have been made. The results of nutrition investigations in many 
countries have been compiled. 

In recent years the work of the Office of Home Economics has been 
enlarged to cover studies of the preparation of foods and meals, of 
clothing, textiles, different kinds of household equipment, household 
accounting and management, etc. A special laboratory has been equipped 
for the study of the preparation of food, particularly with a view to 
obtaining more exact knowledge regarding matters involved in cooking, 
in order that there may be greater accuracy of operation and resultant 
economy, as well as more satisfactory food. 

The' annual appropriation for this office is now $50,000. The results 
of its work and a large amount of information gathered from a great 
variety of sources have been published in scientific journals, Experiment 
Station Record, Journal of Agricultural Research, technical and popular 
bulletins of the Department of Agriculture, and the public press, and 
have been widely disseminated through correspondence and the extension 
service of the department and the agricultural colleges. 

o 



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